


Still Standing: From Zero

by Flora_Jimin



Series: Still Standing Verse [3]
Category: Monsta X (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Action/Suspense, All the couples are endgame, Anubis is basically a grumpy mentor, Death, Eventual Smut, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mercenaries, Minor Character Death, Parallel to my BTS fic, Potentially Triggering Content (All tagged before the chapter as well), Revenge, Sci-Fi Elements, Slow Burn, Still Standing verse, Superpowers, Violence, copious amounts of angst, technically a sense8 au bc of the bts boys but the mx boys aren't in a cluster
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 10:31:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17506916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flora_Jimin/pseuds/Flora_Jimin
Summary: "The way I see it, you have two options," They started, slipping on a pair of gloves, stepping over the body of a fallen scientist."You can leave and disappear and worry about Joseon tracking you down, always looking over your shoulders and flinching at what goes bump in the night. Or, you can come with me, and we can finish this. We've all got scores to settle. I'm going with or without you."Changkyun looked down at his father's still form on the ground before looking back at Anubis."I'm in."OR:While BTS was dealing with the formation of their cluster in Korea, Anubis formed a band of to-be mercenaries on a revenge mission to take down the company that took everything from them.(This fic runs parallel to my BTS-centered fic Still Standing, so it's recommended you read both for the full story)





	Still Standing: From Zero

**Author's Note:**

> Important notice before we begin!  
> Like I said in the des, this fic runs parallel to the BTS centric one, and in later chapters it will reflect that more and more.  
> That being said, this fic itself is centered around the MX boys and their formation and training with Anubis.  
> I highly recommend you read both so you fully understand what I'm presenting you here.  
> Also, this fic is not for the faint hearted. There will be potentially triggering content here and while I do my best to tag everything (whether its explicit or otherwise), I would much rather you take care than make yourself read something that can potentially make you uncomfortable.  
> If you're alright with all of the above, welcome to SS: From Zero, I hope you enjoy.  
> *****  
>  **Chapter Content Warning for: Violence, brief domestic abuse, mention of experimentation**

**-MH-**

Lee Minhyuk was many things, but a monster was not one of them. 

When he received his job at Joseon, he was to the moon. Why wouldn’t he be? He had the job of his dreams, at a company that was a household name in Korea, he had managed to get the lucky stick with this one. 

Or so he thought. 

After a year or two of working a (relatively) simple job of designing technology for the business giant, he was moved to America for a ‘promotion’ of sorts. He thought nothing of it, in fact, he was ecstatic about the opportunity to expand his work.

So imagine his surprise when he entered that Arizonian lab, only to find himself face to face with his fellow workers experimenting on human beings and Supers alike. The man was stunned into silence, eyes wide as he looked around.

“W-What is this? What’s happening-”

“Welcome to our second Joseon facility. You have the honor of working with us to better the future of the company. Be grateful for this opportunity.” The man beside him said. Minhyuk looked at him like he was insane. 

“Grateful? This is wrong! I don’t experiment on people, my technology is supposed to help-”

“And you are helping. You’re helping Joseon create a stronger company. I know this is a shock, it always is, but come along, we have much to discuss.” The man smiled innocently, and Minhyuk was ready to bolt, until he felt the cold press of what was no doubt a gun against his spine. He froze in place as one of the guards came up behind him. 

“Oh, and I do hope you understand your circumstances. You can’t leave this place until Joseon is confident that you’ll keep all of our company secrets. It would be messy if the world found out and tried to interfere, yes?” He hummed, eyes crinkling at the sides as Minhyuk heard the safety click off. He swallowed thickly and nodded once. The man smiled and nodded for Minhyuk to follow him and he continued into the building, strolling past cages with people, all of them looking up at Minhyuk with hopeful or resentful expressions. 

This can’t be happening.

**-CK-**

Lim Changkyun was far from someone with an easy life. 

As a child, he was surrounded by less than savory people brought around him because of his father. He had no idea what the man did behind closed doors, either in the basement the very few times he was home or what his father was up to when he left the boy and his mother alone for months at a time for ‘work purposes’. 

That wouldn’t faze him as much, if it weren’t for the negative effect it had on his relationship with his mother. 

She would look at him sometimes at dinner and whisper under her breath about how much he looked like his father and how she hated the sight of his face. It only got worse as he matured and got older, especially when his father was around. 

“Changkyun will be coming with me to the labs from now on. He needs to train.” His father announced one night when he was just 17 years old. His mother all but dropped her fork, staring at her husband like he had three heads. 

“Excuse me? You’re not taking my son anywhere! It’s bad enough you disappear on this family to do that devil work, now you want to get Changkyun involved?” She spat. His father didn’t bat a lash, lifting his chopsticks to his lips casually. 

“The boy is weak. He’s coming with me so we can see how much untapped potential he’s sitting on.” His father insisted, sighing in annoyance as he slid his bowl away from him. 

“Instead of squawking at me with your annoying opinions, how’s about you learn to cook a decent meal? That’s part of why the boy is so weak now. You can’t even be a good mother and housewife.” He added, pushing away from his chair. Changkyun stood as well, grabbing his father by his collar. 

“Don’t talk to her like that!” He barked. His father chuckled and in one fluid movement, he knocked away his hand and grabbed his son by the back of the neck, driving his knee hard into his stomach. Changkyun coughed, eyes wide as his father held his body up so he wouldn’t fall.

“See that? Weak. Have your things packed by the morning. You’ll be coming with me.” He huffed, dropping his teenage son to the ground. He ignored his wife as she ran over to Changkyun, holding him close to her as he wheezed and struggled not to empty his dinner back onto the floor. 

“Y-you’ve changed...where is my husband?! Where is the man I married?!” She screamed. Her husband didn’t give her a second glance as he turned to leave the home. 

“He’s dead. Like I said, I’ll be here to collect my son in the morning. Don’t keep me waiting.” He sneered, leaving them on the kitchen floor. 

Changkyun’s mother sat on the floor with him for a few minutes, but it felt like hours. Once he had calmed down and was able to sit up, she brushed his bangs out of his face, her lips pulled into a frown. 

“We need to get out of here. Go, pack some clothes. I’ll pack some of mine, too. We need to run.” She ordered. Changkyun looked at her, eyes wide before nodding, scrambling to his feet. That was the first time in a while his mother looked at him like that and he knew this was a dire situation. 

He wasn’t sure what his father’s work involved, but he had a feeling he never wanted to find out if his mother’s reaction was anything to go by. He rushed to his room, holding his stomach and pushing down the urge to hurl as it creeped up again. He grabbed a duffle bag he had gotten when he was younger, shoving clothing into it. He lifted the mattress to his bed, stuffing any won he had hidden away into one of the pouches of the bag. 

Once it was all zipped up, he returned to the dining room, finding his mother waiting for him with her own book bag packed. She nodded at him and motioned to the couch. 

“Come, sit down. We’ll rest for a few hours and leave in the early morning.” She instructed. He nodded and moved to sit beside her, putting his head on her shoulder. 

“Mother? What does father do that’s so bad?” He inquired idly. Her fists clenched for a moment before she exhaled. 

“Your father...he experiments on people for that big company, Joseon. He does terrible, terrible things, Changkyun. I don’t know what happened to the man I married, but he’s trying to play god in those labs and I don’t want you anywhere near them.” She told him, kissing his temple. 

“Get some rest.” She instructed once more and he nodded, letting his eyes slip closed. 

Hours later, she shook him awake, and he was awake in an instant, keeping his mouth shut as he followed his mother out through the back door. He shivered as the Autumn air ran over his skin, but he stuck close to his mother, crouching down slightly as she lead the way. They climbed the fence separating their home to the small patch of forest past their backyard, tossing their duffle bags over the barrier. Changkyun’s mother hopped over first, picking her bag up as her son went to follow. 

About half way up, he was startled by the sound of his father coming not too far from his left. 

“You bitch! You’re not going anywhere with him! Get them!” He barked, and the teen only then realized there were men clad in suits that accompanied his father as they spilled into the backyard to pursue them. Changkyun slipped, falling over the side of the fence and landing painfully on his side. He wheezed, having the wind knocked out of him, but his mother’s hands scrambled to pick him up, all but dragging him to his feet as she pulled him along. 

They disappeared into the forest as his father’s voice echoed through the trees. His mother panted, the leaves crunching beneath her feet as she never looked back. He did his best to keep up, he really did, but apparently his father’s men knew the woods much better than the fleeing duo. They made a sharp turn and one of the suit-clad men cut them off, yanking Changkyun completely away from his mother like he weighed nothing. 

He flailed, reaching for his mother as another man pulled her farther away from him. 

“Mother! Mom!!” He screamed, biting down on the man’s shoulder in a last-ditch effort to stop him from separating the two. It worked, and he slid out of the man’s grip when he reached to his injured shoulder. 

“Mother-!”

“Don’t worry about me! Run, baby, run!” She screamed, kicking wildly to try and get herself free. It didn’t work, and Changkyun felt conflicted. He couldn’t just leave his mother with these dangerous men!

Having decided, he ran over to the man, trying to punch him to loosen his grip on his mother. 

“No, no, you need to leave!” She cried, eyes widening when the man that originally grabbed him took hold of the teen once more, this time he wrapped his tree-trunk like arms around Changkyun’s neck and head, putting him in a tight sleeperhold. He coughed and wheezed, the oxygen quickly rushing out of his throat as he struggled. 

The last time he saw his mother was in that forest as he was blacking out. 

**-Present-**

Changkyun closed his eyes as another opponent fell away from him. He had been taken that fateful night four years ago and his father immediately put him to work, forcing him to train in hand to hand combat. He had gone through fights with both Joseon’s secret forces and with the poor souls they used as experiments. 

About a year into his training, his father received an assignment, moving overseas for them to work in secret in America. Changkyun then became one of the top fighters in the four years of living there, all while trying to figure out a way how to break away from them. 

He rolled his neck, walking out of the training room to take a breather outside. He had been permitted to leave the building, but there was a security bracelet around his ankle to keep him from leaving. 

He sat in the sun, the dry Arizonian air making his hair stick to his forehead. There was a sound of something moving and he looked up, seeing a familiar brunette poking his head above the fence that separated the facility from the outside world. 

“Hyung, you know it’s dangerous to be up there.” He told the other man. 

Lee Jooheon only gave him a dimpled smile in response. 

Changkyun had made friends with the man soon after he got to America, often seeing Jooheon somewhere near the fence of the facility. The man was an orphan, and Changkyun was still vague about where he came from and how he was able to hover so close to the facility without getting caught and killed, but he never questioned it. 

It was nice being able to talk to someone not at all involved with Joseon for a change. 

“How are you? How are things?” Jooheon inquired, head tilting to the side. 

“The same, usual routine. Uh, I guess something went down, though.” He looked around, making sure no one was around before he approached the fence, looking up at Jooheon. 

“One of the techies broke out recently. The one I told you about before.” He whispered. Jooheon blinked for a moment or two before the lightbulb went off in his head. 

“Oh Minhyuk! How did he get out?” He inquired. Changkyun tapped his chin, wondering how the man managed to actually escape. The scientists in the facility didn’t actually tell him anything, so he was very vague on how Minhyuk got away. 

“Probably some genius tech stuff, who knows? I just wish he would’ve taken me too.” He muttered, looking to the ground. Jooheon frowned at him from above, his lips pulled down. 

“You’ll get out of here. I’ll help, I told you before.” He offered. Changkyun smiled at him before both of them heard loud alarm-like bells blaring from the front of the facility. They exchanged a look with one another, sharing a concerned expression. 

“What’s that sound?” Jooheon inquired.

“It means someone’s coming into the facility. I’m going to go check it out, I’ll be back here same time tomorrow, okay?” He waved at Jooheon and jogged towards the doors without waiting for a response, missing the way the speedster’s lips pulled down. 

The young fighter made his way to the main doors, blinking in surprise as he watched a tall hooded figure stride up to his father. He kept himself relatively out of sight, peeking over the side of a wall to watch. 

“Welcome to Facility #0-2, my name is-”

“Doctor Lim. I know. Let’s get the ground rules first. You may think you’re in charge here, but I don’t take orders from you. Remember this well, because you’re replaceable. The only reason I’m here is to evaluate your operations and make sure you’re running everything to Ji-Sun’s standards.” The person cut his father off and Changkyun’s brows furrowed. 

No one had been able to speak like that and live except Ji-Sun, and that was a given, seeing as he was his father’s superior. He hadn’t heard of this Anubis person, but it intrigued him to see how his father’s only response was a reluctant, yet deep bow. 

“Understood. I can assure you that you’ll be pleased with what you see.” He chuckled, standing back to his full height. Anubis cocked a brow before cracking their neck and rolling their shoulders.

“Trust me, anything I’d be pleased to see wouldn’t be in this place, but carry on nonetheless.” 

His father grit his teeth and nodded, turning to lead the way to the experiments. Changkyun watched them go in wonder. He figured Anubis was an incredibly powerful person going by his father’s obedience. 

He had no idea that the arrival of that mysterious person would change his life forever.

**Author's Note:**

> First chapters are always rough for me.   
> Comments are always welcome and if you'd like to keep up with updates for this fic or Stil Standing, feel free to follow me on tumblr at Monstasxbebe and Flora-Jimin. Have a wonderful day, monbebe


End file.
